DESPITE losing narrowly to Fremantle on Friday night, a strong final quarter has Carlton coach Brett Ratten confident his team can overrun their opponents in an elimination final next week.

Carlton started well against Fremantle at Subiaco in a Friday night thriller but lost key midfielder Andrew Carrazzo to a sore hamstring and fell 29 points down late in the third quarter.

However, a final quarter surge that got them within a single kick left Ratten with enough pleasing signs to suggest that his team can win on the road next week, whether in Sydney or back in Perth to play Fremantle.

"The last month has seen us get back to running across the top of the ground, which was something that we lost," Ratten said.

"We increased their training loads through a period of three weeks there and looked like statues, and didn’t move a lot, but in the last four weeks we've had a lot of run in our games especially in last quarters.

"Our run towards the back end of the game was very good and maybe with a little bit more effectiveness we might have actually pinched the game."

Carrazzo came off the ground late in the first quarter before he did any serious damage to his hamstring and Ratten rated him as a good chance to play next week as long as no damage shows up on return home to Melbourne.

"We lost him for three quarters and 12 minutes and he's one of the elite runners in our team, and has had fantastic results at this ground previously with 40 possessions and things like that," he said.

"He just got tight in his back, hamstring area and he was about 80 or 85 per cent right, but the question mark was if he would tear it.

"Knowing where we sit with finals, you can't take a risk. If I was a betting man I'd say that he would be likely to play, but we'll have to wait and see.

"We went the no-risk policy. It did hurt us a little bit, but it gave some opportunities for Jeff Garlett and (Chris) Yarran to play around the ball, and show that they were capable."